At Least Five Teams Could Contend For Division Title in Another Year of Wacky Gold Hoops
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Many years ago, I joked with a Dunellen fan about the wackiness that always seems to take place in the GMC Gold Division. To be honest, the wackiness is one of the great qualities of the play in this division that I have enjoyed about covering it in my 13 years of running GMC Hoops. For example, in the 2003-04 season, there was nearly a four way tie for the division title before Piscataway Tech defeated Dunellen in the last regular season game to win the league. The following year, Dunellen and Perth Amboy Tech had a similar showdown for the title, which was won by Juan De Los Santos, Hector Aponte, and company at The Faber to earn a share of the division title.
Two years ago, Piscataway Tech seemed to be in cruise control until they faced off against Timothy Christian at P-Way Tech in the middle of the season. Then, the Tigers, which had lost to the Raiders at TCS by some 20 plus points back in the early days of the 2011-12 season, pulled off a remarkable upset. The win put Timothy Christian in the driver’s seat for a division crown until they lost to Dunellen a couple weeks later on a last second shot by Deon Brown. Last season, the first without perennial division contender, P-Way Tech, was a very wide open one with four teams battling it out until the last week of the season when Dunellen defeated Timothy Christian to win its first crown since 2010. Since Cardinal McCarrick left the division for the start of the 2002-03 season, Dunellen and Piscataway Tech have dominated with only Amboy Tech gaining a share of the division title in 2005, and South Amboy winning outright in 2008 after rallying to overcome a seven point deficit at home to defeat Dunellen at the buzzer in yet another wacky finish to a Gold Division race.
Over the past 11 years, Dunellen has won at least a share of the division crown six times with five of those coming outright. Under the guidance of Bernie Buniak, who previous coached at Rahway before coming to DHS prior to the 2005-06 campaign, the Destroyers have become the top program in the division, and one of the more respected as well. Dunellen has managed to still be in the thick of things over the past several years despite a rash of injuries or illnesses at the beginning of the season. Last year, the Destroyers came on strong to not only win the Gold, but also advance to the North Jersey Section 2 Group I semifinals for the first time since Buniak’s first year at Dunellen. This season presents a different challenge for the Destroyers. With significant losses to graduation including 1,000 point scorer Dylan Hoski, DHS is supposed to be going through a rebuilding year. However, thanks to the efforts of junior David Johnson, who stepped on the scene during the state playoff run last season with 27 points in a victory over Ridgefield, the Destroyers are 5-3 overall including a 4-1 mark in division with one of those victories an opening night upset of division favorite South Amboy after a late three by Johnson.
Speaking of South Amboy, the Guvs are in the best position to win the division since the 2007-08 campaign. The Governors have all of the key pieces back including big man Joe Fruncillo, who amassed 31 points in an overtime loss to Cardinal McCarrick on the second day of the season, Steve Herdman, Nick Kales, Dan Murphy, junior Tim Kales, and Kiere Ford. This nucleus has been in place with the Guvs in each of the past three seasons, and with head coach, Lenny Reyes at the helm, South Amboy is poised to make the next step. After starting the season with those tough back to back losses on the road at Dunellen and Cardinal McCarrick, the Guvs have rebounded to not only win the South River Tournament, but they also defeated the Rams again in regular season play and added wins over East Brunswick Tech and Perth Amboy Tech to put together a five game winning streak.
Next comes Timothy Christian, which after starting the season with a victory at South River (73-71), had lost four straight including back to back crossover games with GMC Blue Division members Bishop Ahr (60-55) and Metuchen (63-47), and both games in their holiday tournament at Cairn University in Pennsylvania to Nueva Esperanza Academy (66-51) and Atlantic Christian (64-60). Returning to league play has been the tonic for the TCS as it has reeled off three straight wins over East Brunswick Tech, Wardlaw, and former Patriot Conference foe, Princeton Day School (49-45). Like South Amboy, the Tigers return mostly everybody from last season. Timothy Christian did lose a key cog with basketball and baseball standout, Jeff Parker graduating, but they still have Brandon Summers and core nucleus players Jarret Locke, Matt DiLeo, and big man Evan Waldron.
Then, we come to the South River Rams. After being picked by GMC Hoops to finish second in the GMC Gold last season, the Rams finished third, and then lost 1,000 point scorer Tyler Harris (now playing at Centenary College) and Tim Darrar (Middlesex County College) to graduation last June. However, South River still has a solid backcourt duo in Matt Martinez, who was averaging 34 points per game as of early last week, and football standout, Sean Darrar, who has the ability to knock down clutch shots like he did against Keansburg in the Championship Game of the Genevieve Hawley Holiday Tournament at Henry Hudson last season. Throw in some role players such as Connor Devich, Othneil Harris, Tyler Hill, and Mario Nigro along with the frantic up-tempo pace set by head coach, Rodney Harris, and the Rams have the ability to still win games and cause problems in the division. South River proved that by doing something that recent Rams teams of the past have not been able to do, and that is win over Dunellen. The Rams rallied from behind in regulation to force overtime, and then defeated the Destroyers by the score of 81-70 on the road at The Faber.
Coming off its holiday tournament title, Perth Amboy Tech is another team to watch out for in this Gold Division race. The Patriots have only played three division games at this point, but one of them was a loss to Dunellen on the road by only single digits. They have a solid big man in 6’7″ junior Jordan Little, and a supporting cast that includes junior Noel Garay and senior Jason Oxner. Wardlaw appears to be struggling at this point, but keep this in mind. While the Rams are 1-6, the have played a tough out of conference schedule that includes top flight programs such as Notre Dame of Lawrenceville, Irvington, and Peddie. They have also lost two of their four division games by single digits including a 40-33 setback to Dunellen at home, and a 57-55 loss to Amboy Tech on opening day. Wardlaw-Hartridge took some hits to graduation including the loss of 1,000 point scorer, Justen Davis and sharpshooter Noah Ganz. The Rams also are going through some transition after hiring a new head coach in former Summit boys basketball coach, Eugene Maxwell this past fall. Expect the Rams to get a bit better as the season progresses. They have several good players in John Pohopin, Mike Newman, Ish Menns, Shareef Ibraheem, and Mike Anastasiou. E.B. Tech is also off to a tough start, but have a top player in senior Mark Alston, who was a standout football player for South River during the fall.
As it looks right now, five teams figure to be in the race for the division title. Expect South Amboy, Dunellen, Timothy Christian, South River, and Amboy Tech to really battle it out until the final week of the regular season.